What readers think of The Last Time They Met, plus links to write your own review.

An inspiring book that expresses life through hardship.A quality that is esy to find with most novels,but sense of uniqueness on behalf of ms Anita.

I just took some time to read several reviews of Anita Shreves "The Last Time They Met" I am glad to see I am not the only one dumbfounded with the ending. I re-read the ending and speculated that Thomas <<edited for potential plot spoiler>>. To me, the ending diminished the genuineness of the love itself.

Having just completed this book, I am still stunned by the ending. I was totally at a loss in predicting Shreve's astonishing finish. I initially began reading, "The Last Time They Met," then stopped one quarter of the way through to read, "The Weight of Water," realizing "Water," came first. I am glad I did since Thomas' story is first introduced in, "The Weight of Water." (If you have read, "The Weight of Water," or plan to, please visit:http: //www.seacoastnh.com/smuttynose/index.html for information on the actual events.)

Another reviewer criticizes Thomas' personality, wondering why Linda would want to be with him in the first place. However, Shreve, with an adept understanding of human psyche, handles his personality change from teen to adult with expertise. It could happen to the best of us given his circumstances.

I was also impressed with her use of italics during Linda and Thomas' conversations at 52 and 26, and then quotations as teens. This odd writing style makes perfect sense by the last page. This is easily one of the best books I have read. One doesn't have to adore the ending to appreciate a well-written novel. This book put simply, makes you think.

Can you say 'cheesy, Lifetime television for women'?

The unrealistic drama drove me crazy. I finally had to put the book down when I read of Thomas explaining to Linda of his wife's affair and she commented <<edited for potential plot spoiler>>. Come on! A dead husband, a divorce, an abortion, a dead child, and an alcoholic gay son, all within the first 80 pages! I found this all hard to stomach. I was afraid to read any further for fear of more deaths and the like.
The reviews praise the author for her style of telling the story from the present day to the past, but I found Anita Shreve's style of telling the story backwards, distracting. There was no way of telling when she was talking about the present day or the past. I was forced to read pages over again to really figure out what she was talking about.

Over all, I would have to give a big thumbs down for "The Last Time They Met". The woman in my book group who recommended this will be reprimanded harshly.

Anita Shreve once again sucked me in. The narration of the story is clever--an overwhelming love affair told from the present to the past. Shreve's novels are so finely crafted that to read her work is similar to eating a gourmet meal--every sentence is a pleasure to digest. She describes her characters thoughts so intimately and completely. I devoured this read, and the ending is so incredible that I have to reread it immediately. Bravo!

Dear Readers and Potential Readers,

I found this story un-bearably drab and, consequently, I was not able to complete the book. Despite moving backward, the story was very slow; and I do mean *very* slow. I constantly found myself thinking, "Is it possible to use massive amounts of words, yet say nothing?", which was exactly what Shreve did. She used too many words, yet said nothing. The character development was near non-existant. A lot was written about Linda; however, I did not get any sense of who Linda really was, nor for what she stood. So after several dozen pages, I couldn't care less about Linda or her life. Additionally, Shreve's writing style in this book was remarkably distracting! Firstly, her use of parenthesis was downright distressing. The parenthesis statements would go on for half or more of the page; so long, in fact, that you were forced to re-read the beginning of the sentence (or paragraph) just to get a sufficient grip on what was just written. So it goes without saying that you could conceivably spend over a minute on one single page. Secondly, quotes were not used when the characters had dialogue. Instead of quoting the dialogue; Shreve, for some entirely arcane reason, saw fit to italicize the dialogue. I completely understand wanting to be original; but originality to point of interference might tend to deter, thus loosing the audience. And this book sure lost me. In short, nothing about this book was spell bounding, captivating or mesmerizing as some reviews have professed. It was not a 'can't-put-it-down pageturner'; franky, I found it quite easy to put this one down.

- A Nascent Reader

Have to agree wih Dawn and Kathie. A most intense, affecting novel, which made me feel exceptionally emotional. Like the others, the final denouement left me awestruck. My wife and I both think the novel happened in Thomas' mind, and that the heroine was deceased throughout most of the story. This does not detract from the novel........but I WOULD like to know if we are right...??

I just finished the book. I loved this story but I am very confused by the ending. I would love to discuss my feelings with another reader. Please email me at IMPHRANTIC@aol.com so we can discuss this book.